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Sunday, 6 August 2017

THE THREE-LETTER WORD DRIVING THE BOOK MARKET

'THE' is a very short word - one we use a myriad times every day. So why has it been causing excitement in the world of fiction?

Just in case you hadn't noticed, this three- letter word heads some of the most successful book titles of 2017. Of the top paperback fiction bestsellers listed in Saturday's Times newspaper six out of the ten titles follow the trend. Just look at the list:

At number one, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead is followed by Jane Harper's The Dry. At five is The Power by Naomi Alderman, at six The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena followed by John Grisham's The Whistler at number seven. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, (now a television series) is number eight and Michelle Frances' The Girlfriend comes in at number nine.

So while many experts still believe that you should choose a book by its cover, these days it seems to be the title that's pulling in the readers. And the more a new-release resembles the title of a current best seller, the more likely it is to attract the reader's attention.

If you watched The Little House on the Prairie as a child, you won't be surprised to know that 'house' is now an in-word for book titles. One of the most popular is The House on the Hill (I found several different novels with this same title on Amazon) along with Kate Morton's The House at Riverton. Finally, the word 'girl' is also very prevalent as in the bestsellers Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train. A throwback, maybe, to Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?

Book titles, despite common belief, are not subject to copyright which explains why we sometimes come across two authors publishing different novels with the same title at the same time. Take, for example,Julie Cohen and Jane Green, both successful authors with recent novels entitled Falling.

But is success just about sales? It's not unknown for a Booker Prize winner to have far fewer sales than many commercial fiction authors today, though not in the case of prolific writer Julian Barnes whose 2011 novel The Sense of an Ending had me riveted from start to finish. Clearly he was ahead of the trend.

I wonder what the title of the next number one bestseller might be? The Daughter of The Girl in the House on the Hill above the Hidden Railway Train?

Exactly, Elaine. I wonder how many people do choose a book by its title. Or the cover. Or perhaps by an Amazon review, or recommendation from a newspaper or magazine? Maybe they seem the film first and then read the book. Great topic for a book club!

It's the most frequent word in the English language, accounting for around four percent of all the words we write or speak. It's everywhere, all the time, so clearly it must be doing something important. Words have meaning. That's fundamental, isn't it? So what does "the," a word that seems to be supporting a significant portion of the entire weight of our language, mean? It must mean something, right?

We can say, roughly, that "the" means the word it is attached to refers to a specific, individual object. When I say "I have the apple," I mean a certain apple, not just any old apple, or apples in general.

But, of course, it's not quite that easy. Sometimes "the" doesn't indicate a specific object, but a whole class of objects. When you say you know how to play "the piano" or that exercise is good for "the heart," there is no specific piano or heart you have in mind. "The pen is mightier than the sword" isn't about specific pens or swords — or even about specific instances of their metaphorical counterparts, acts of writing and acts of aggression.

You really have made me think even more deeply about the 'the' word, Willie. It means nothing and it means everything. In a world where everything is so very complicated, it makes me feel good that it's so simple yet so significant.

I wonder if publishers' marketing departments deliberately homogenise book titles to confuse us at bookshops. No doubt, the next "style" title is just around the corner and we'll all for it all over again!

I hadn’t noticed Marilyn but looking at one shelf in my office, I can see The miniaturist, the demented lands, The return, The time of our lives, The year I met you, The first last kiss, The far side of the sun, The winter children, The edge of the cloud, The help, The novel in the viola and The last summer.

That is amazing and it's given me an idea for a new way to arrange books on shelves!

Oh, do let me know when you've finished rearranging your book shelves, Barbara - I'd love to know the outcome! My next read will be The First Last Kiss and then I'd better get on with writing The Blurb! ;)

One thing which bothers me about book titles is when an author/publisher decides to change the title after the book has been published. You only realise you've read the book before when you're a few pages in, because the fact that it has been published under a different title previously is hidden in small text somewhere.